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The Legislature has been busy holding hearings in order to meet the mandatory April 27 deadline to move legislation out of policy committees and into fiscal committees. CLFP has been actively engaged on a number of key bills that have a direct impact on the food processing industry, including State Water Board Reform, cottage food operations, and AB 32 auction funds.

CLFP actively engaged on five state and regional water board reform bills that were introduced this session and was successful in getting four of them passed out of their first policy committees. These bills are focused on due process reform and increased scientific rigor at the state and regional water boards. CLFP is in strong support of all the measures and will continue to support them as they move to their respective fiscal committees.

CLFP has also engaged on a cottage food bill which would have significantly relaxed food safety regulations for small food processors operating out of their homes. CLFP expressed public health and safety concerns with the proposed legislation, and worked with the author of the bill and the policy committee staff to craft amendments to the bill which would limit the scope of products and distribution, place a cap on sales, and require basic sanitation and regular inspections. The bill passed out of the Assembly Health Committee and will now move to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

In addition, CLFP was actively engaged in opposing legislation that would allocate AB 32 cap-and-trade auction funds to programs not related to mitigating climate change. In opposing these bills, CLFP has pointed out that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) lacks authority and has been unable to justify the need to raise billions of dollars in revenue for purposes anticipated in these bills. CARB’s plan to impose a "cap-and-trade" program will hurt jobs and increase costs to the state and consumers. AB 32 was not intended to be a revenue source. The impact on food processors will be significant and will be on top of the higher fuel and energy costs due to other climate change regulations. In addition to food processors, entities subject to the cap-and-trade program include manufacturers, public agencies, universities, refineries and others. Unfortunately, these measures passed out of their policy committees and will be moving onto their respective fiscal committees for consideration.

May 25 is the deadline for fiscal committees to hear and report bills to their floors for a final vote before the bills move onto to their second house for consideration. CLFP will continue to engage on these measures throughout the process.

The CLFP Government Affairs Committee is playing a critical role in helping shape CLFP’s bill prioritization system and internal communication process on legislative matters. If you are interested in serving on the Committee, please contact Trudi Hughes at (916) 640-8150 or trudi@clfp.com.

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